A ban on plastic shopping bags is being phased in from this month in the ACT. My first thoughts on hearing the news was of a similar ban in Bhutan when I was there in 2005. They’d previously tried in 1999 and have apparently tried again in 2007.
The ban had failed in Bhutan because, like the Kalahari Bushmen and the coke bottle, Bhutanese poeple had discovered the many uses for plastic bags and weren’t keen to give it up. Our landlord’s mother even used to come into our kitchen to take the bags we’d collected. Shopkeepers felt the pressure from their customers and the police eventually gave up trying to enforce the ban.
South Australia has had more success. A study by the University of South Australia shows that only 1% of consumers are still using store-provided bags, though it doesn’t say how they get them. Could this mean that Australian culture is more environmentally concious? Or is there another reason?
That would be ironic considering our antipathy towards the carbon tax, but it’s probably too early to tell. It’s only been a couple of years in South Australia and I don’t understand the nature of a ban that still allows for even a few people to use the bags. Nor can I find any research that considers the options for other uses of bags. I rarely take ‘single-use’ bags myself, but always use them to wrap my non-recyclable rubbish. Apparently there are biodegradeable bags to do the same thing. I wonder whether those will be available as shopping bags for the times that I don’t have other bags with me. Either way, I hope that the ACT is successful in their ban and that it continues on to the rest of the country.
I went to the supermarket this morning and looked for biodegradable bin liners and found some – amongst a selection of fruit-scented bin liners. I was worried because they were marked ‘small’ and might not fit in my standard shopping bag-sized bin, but it turned out this is the size to get. It was $2 for a pack of 20, which means about 10c per week at the rate I go through them.
Antipathy to the carbon tax ironic? I don’t see that.
Bringing your own shopping bags is something that can be done with a little self conscious effort. It’s easy enough to bring your own shopping bag, and feel that you’ve made an effort to help the environment, even if it’s just a little bit.
Carbon Tax, on the other hand, means an increase in the cost of living. People are naturally resistant to an increase in utility bills and such.
Then, on top of that, it’s possible that the carbon tax will do nothing to decrease pollution, and do everything to increase government coffers. So, basically making it an indirect tax from the government to its citizens, passed on through business. Australians are generally cynical about their government, and will readily believe this to be a certainty.
Compare this to bringing your own shopping bags. Nice, simple, and personally satisfying. No politics, no confusion, no increase in your grocery bills, apart from the initial cost of the bag. No wonder it’s the people’s choice for helping to save the environment.